If you’ve posted an image of your dog to social media, chances are that it received a lot of attention. Their loyalty, playfulness, and fun-loving nature are what make us love dogs so much. But, working with them can be a challenge. Dog photographer Elias Weiss Friedman aka “The Dogist” shares some quick tips to help you take much better photos of your dog:
Get Down on the Dog’s Level
Shooting from eye level makes the image appear more intimate. Don’t be afraid to get down and low to take photos of your short friends.
Have Something the Dog Wants
Dogs are excited and distracted way too easily. To grab their attention, it is therefore important that you have something with you that they are fond of. It could be some kind of toy or even food. Show it to the dog, and move it around your lens so that they appear to be looking at the camera.
Have patience
Like us humans, every dog is different from the other. You may need to adopt different working methods with different dogs. Spend some time with the dog and try to understand how you can work with them. Friedman shares that if you’re able to make dogs feel relaxed, they’ll stare at you, which can be a good photo opportunity.
Learn to bark and make strange noises
Get creative in the sounds you make to grab your dog’s attention and to keep them engaged. Sometimes they can also put up a curious expression allowing you to take a lovely image.
Establish trust
It’s important that the dogs feel comfortable with you so close to them. They shouldn’t feel threatened and this is why establishing trust with them is important. Start off from a safe distance.
Expect to get dirty
When taking photos of dogs, you will need to get low on the ground. Wear something you wouldn’t mind getting torn or dirty. To keep your knees from aching, Friedman even suggests using a knee-pad. Also, have some lens wipes with you to clean up the slobber from the lens.
Reward a dog’s efforts
Dogs are basically looking for two things: food and love. By appreciating the efforts that a dog makes with some treats or by being playful with them, the dogs will feel happier. And happy dogs can make your images look much more appealing.
Do you have any special tricks that you use to take photos of your dog? We’d love to hear from you.
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Get the dog in the nearest acceptable pose you can, compose, get ready to shoot and then let out a whistle, any whistle and you will have about a second or two to snap a fully alert and attentive dog. This will work at least once, but not too many more times in the same session.